Thursday, April 28, 2011

The advice Mr. Glass offers here applies just as much to gamemastering as it does to any other creative endeavor. You are going to suck the first time you do it. You'll probably suck the fiftieth time you do it. I put on the bravest face possible in my after action reports, but most of the time I still feel like I suck and I've been doing this since my age in years was a single digit. Honestly, starting young and stupid was a tremendous advantage. A poet or novelist can toil for years without having to share their earliest efforts, but a DM has to perform for other players right from the get-go. That any adult actually tries to do this, with a lifetime of social pressures and fear of embarrassment weighing them down, is pretty much a miracle to me. And then the poor newbie ends up sucking, because we all suck at everything we do the first time.

"Man, is there anything Jeff CAN'T do when it comes to gaming? This guy is like a critical 20 every roll. Jeff can bite the heads offa five game geeks, including their sorry-ass DM, and spit 'em into a large duffel bag ONE AT A TIME!...that's just the kind of messed up bastard he is! You think yer a gamer, punk? Well..do ya? Jeff will depants your weasel-ass right in front of your grandma."